Unexpected, or Just a Moment in the Woods
by clockwork starlight
Summary: Based on fanart by Warrior-of-Ruin. SasuHina, little lemon. I didn't go all out. Mostly without plot, but that just made the naughty bits easier to get to.


Based on Warrior of Ruin's fan_tab_ulous piece of art _Unexpected_, because well… smut is every fangirl's friend.

http(colon slash slash)warrior(dash)of(dash)ruin(dot)deviantart(dot)com(slash)art(slash)SasuHina(dash)Unexpected(dash)103050078

Looking at picture will help you realize (a)just how hot it is; (b)the setting and scenery; (c) why I had to write sex in (does that go under (a) I wonder)

Shoutout to jules, because we NEED to meet up and go for boba sometime.

Also hoping this is under the right rating, because I couldn't be hashed to put in LJ tags. I've read worse (I think), so I'm hoping no one is going to be mean and report me unless all the other stuff has been removed and I don't know about it.

_

* * *

Unexpected_ (or, if you are familiar with Sondheim, _Just a Moment in the Woods_)

Frustration ate at her more every day. Konoha was stifling. Her family, her friends, they couldn't seem to get two words out before there was nothing left to say. When had they become so distant? She loved them all, truly, but she just couldn't _stand_ to be around them. She threw herself into training and missions, avoided people when she could, and was miserable when she couldn't. It got to a point where even the people looking for her couldn't guess where she might be. She couldn't hide her chakra from the _byakugan_, but she could damp it down and duck into a crowd of civilians.

It shouldn't have surprised her when she was approached by ANBU. Her skills and personality had attracted their attention if no one else's.

When she told her father, out of obligation rather than joy, he told her he was proud of her, but forbid her from joining the ranks. She shook her head and left, making sure he caught a glimpse of the swirl of ink in the angry flesh of her arm. And then she disappeared.

It was convenient that she was immediately assigned to a group that was tracking Uchiha Sasuke. That would take her far from Konoha, and there was no way for her to be called back without endangering them all.

-vovovov-

They were somewhere in the Land of Rice Paddies, following him through thick bamboo forests. They had needed the _byakugan_ for this, desperately. Traveling on the ground held the risk of being discovered, and he could easily have set up an ambush if he knew they were coming. With her, they could count on keeping a safe distance and still pursue him. And they could look ahead of him to find a place where _they_ might trap _him_. So far they hadn't been able to because of the blistering pace he was making.

They had to come to a halt far too soon into the fourth day. The others were ill, enervation creeping through their bodies, making it impossible for them to keep up. Water was the only thing they had been forced to use after Sasuke. They concluded it was habit for him, or there had been natural poisons growing in or around the lake. The chances he _knew_ they were coming were slim, and they were going to bet on them. Hinata, having been important to a noble house once, had had entirely too many nasty potions and injections as a child, and so she would follow him, much more prudently now that she was alone, but she would follow. It would be easier to find her than him once they lost the trail.

They split up, for better or for worse.

-vovovov-

Hinata was keeping an eye out ahead of Sasuke, looking for possible places he might camp so that she could find herself a safe one. She found one almost directly in line with his current path, and not only that. There, sobbing half-heartedly next to a mere trickle of a stream, was a little girl. She bit back a curse and cast around frantically to find her home. It wasn't too far away. If you were _shinobi_. She skirted as wide an arc around Sasuke as she could, set as many traps as she dared to delay him. There was no hope he wouldn't find her, but maybe she could get the girl away.

She cast off her mask and cloak in case the girl cried out and left them with the last tags. After some pause, she discarded the armor as well. She'd need mobility more than anything else, and they hadn't exactly been able to provide for a woman of her… generous proportions on such short notice. As soon as she was done she headed toward the girl.

As gently as she could, she wrapped a comforting arm around her.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked softly, giving her a cursory inspection. "Listen to _nee-san_, alright? Your home is that way," she pointed toward it and the girl stopped sniffling hopefully, "but it will be more than an hour before you get there. I promise you you will get home, or someone will find you, but you _have_ to keep going that way." The girl nodded seriously, tails of hair bobbing. "Promise _nee-san_ you'll go straight that way, even if it seems like a long, long time."

"I-I promise," she whispered.

"You're a good girl. You're very brave, and I know everyone will be so happy, and so proud of you when they find you."

They stood, the girl clinging to her waist, as if drawing as much strength as she could from the pretty _ninja_. Hinata nudged her forward with a pat on the head, and watched her until she was out of sight.

She sighed, looped her fingers into four _kunai_, and turned around. Uchiha Sasuke was watching her, the burning remains of his shirt casually shed at his feet. The puzzled light and shadow drifting down played with the hungry gleam of his blade, making it almost impossible to see that he was actually unsheathing his sword. As he came to her, the last inch of liquid metal freed itself and then the scream of weapons filled the air.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she murmured, barely blocking the blow that meant to remove her head from her shoulders. She would not be able to get close enough to use the _juken_ without losing the first hand that touched him.

"Hyuuga," he returned with a mocking genuflection.

-vovovov-

_Kunai_ fell like rain, trying to herd him into the trees, where his sword would only bite trees not flesh. He dodged them all but the first, catching it and sending it back at her while she was still attacking. She ducked, but it went straight through the loose bun piled on top of her head to bury itself in the tree behind her. Her hair cascaded around her in a wild torrent of silk, several locks of long hair fluttered to the ground. She grabbed the blade that had almost killed her, and pulled it out with only a little strain.

She sent chakra to her feet and danced up slender stalks, aiming to stay out of reach of his _chokuto_. She hadn't counted on him pouring electricity into the blade and slicing through the clump of bamboo. She landed neatly on her free hand and used to momentum to flip away. Again he surprised her, a feline pounce knocked her down and they rolled, she struggling to escape without cutting herself to ribbons.

He had one hand pinned, the other possibly sprained, sword at her neck, and breathing heavily as she stared into his eyes, eyes dark as sin. He hadn't even had to use his _sharingan_.

She was hopelessly outclassed.

She let her eyes close, and one by one her muscles relaxed in defeat. Now that she wasn't fighting for her life, she realized the slide of his body had awoken a thread of desire in her, and she prayed he would just kill her quickly.

He was staring down at her, smirk playing at his lips. It aroused both temper and lust. She jerked her leg up. Again, his snakelike reflexes foiled her. He twined his ankle under her calf and pulled it down, so rather than kneeing him in the groin, she grazed the cloth of his pants, and the sensation burned.

His expression was one of amusement. Carefully he shifted, blade still threatening her throat. He untangled their legs, rubbing his knee against her more than once as he did so. The sensuous smirk said he knew exactly what he was doing and was more than possibly enjoying it.

She had been watching him for weeks, and it suddenly occurred to her that it was an intensely attractive man practically lying on top of her, not just a name and a face in a bingo book. She arched when she felt heat brushing against her legs, knowing, at least, she wasn't the only one needing.

His face was inches from hers; he was leaning as if he meant to kiss her. She might have been able to shove his sword into his own throat, but she doubted she could, and she didn't really want to. The _kunai_ slid from her numb fingers as she hesitantly pushed her shoulders back to meet his lips.

It was like a jolt of lightning joined them, a smoldering tickle that originated somewhere around her spine. She figured willingly embracing, _kissing_, Death had to count for something.

The feeling never fizzled out, and she realized it wasn't some _jutsu_, but pure physical reaction. She kissed him harder. She let any thoughts of escape slip away. The coldness in her soul, the chill that ANBU sought in their ranks, prevented her from being too upset about death. It wasn't that no one would mourn her, but that she didn't particularly _care_. She wouldn't miss the memories she might have made, didn't cherish the ones she had. No regrets, no resolution, only apathy. If he killed her while she made love to him, then, well, she would die amid the litter of leaves and _kunai_, on a bed of her hair and loam. But she would die more alive than she had ever been.

He must have read something like resignation in her, because he broke away and sheathed his sword, laying it next to them.

He brought his hand to her neck and kissed her again, pulling her into him, him into her. His other hand drifted over her, sword calluses sparking need and promise in her nerves. She arched harder into him, and hissed when she inadvertently moved her wrist wrong. The feel of teeth on her tongue made her forget the pain, and one leg wrapped around him, bringing his hips flush against her.

Almost impatiently, he pulled her already indecent shirt away. She was suddenly unreasonably glad it was hot as hell out here and that she had been wearing as little as she could under her uniform. His mouth sought her breast like a needle to a lodestone, and hot need flooded through her. Her hips drove against him when he lightly bit the pink tip, tongue flickering out immediately after. Her good hand slid down his chest and toyed with the edge of his pants. The slant of his hips just barely kept them up, and she wondered how he managed all those combat moves without flashing his opponents. Maybe that was how he won.

They fell away from him as eagerly as anyone might want. Her fingers glided along the satin of his head, catching on the damp skin of his shaft pulled a muffled gasp from him. Another stroke and she found herself stripped bare, on elbows and knees, with him behind her. He was inside her before she could breath, and the pleasure was great enough she could have died then and there. One hand held her waist steady, the other played at her sensitized skin. Each thrust pressed into her was like an earthquake, shattering everything she thought she knew about herself. She'd never dreamed so much _feeling_ could fill her like this, never imagined anything could be so good to her. She was practically sobbing in his arms when he sped up.

They lay, not quite together, not quite apart. Somehow her hand made its way to her clothes and she tried to put them on, awkward with only one hand. Even though she was probably going to die, he would never let her leave this place alive now; a stubborn urge inside her demanded she at least be found modest. She never expected him to help her. Never thought he would pick up her scattered weapons while she combed debris from her hair. Would have sooner believed snakes had honor than the hand he held out to her.

But Hyuuga Hinata was going to die today, so what loss was it?

She took his hand, but asked one thing of him.

"Why?"

"Why not?" he countered.

She laughed at him, a hysterical quality tingeing it. "Why not? It's not like I could hurt you. Because I'm still a _ninja_ of Konoha. Because I'm still your enemy."

"Are you?"

"I don't _know_ you!" she cried.

"You know enough."

"I know you didn't kill me when you had every right and power to—"

"That isn't enough?" He pulled her unresisting body to standing. "Everything you did and didn't do told me you and me are the same."

"You're just better," she added for him.

"Yes."

"Then I suppose I ought to tell you my name is Hinata. Just Hinata."

"And I'm Sasuke."


End file.
